Introducing the brain: importance of astrocytes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, June 10, 2025, 18:25 (2 days ago) @ David Turell

Wrap around synapses with a calcium influence:

https://www.livescience.com/health/neuroscience/star-shaped-brain-cells-may-underpin-th...

"For decades, scientists believed neurons were the brain's sole architects of thought and memory — but now, new research suggests that another, often-overlooked type of brain cell may play a more central role in memory than previously thought.

"The study, published in May in the journal PNAS, proposes that these other brain cells, called astrocytes, could be responsible for the brain's impressive memory-storage capacity through a newly discovered kind of network architecture.

"Astrocytes are star-shaped cells that perform many maintenance tasks in the brain, including clearing cellular debris, supplying neurons with nutrients and regulating blood flow. They also sport thin branching structures, known as processes, that wrap around the points where neurons exchange messages. This wrapping forms what is called a tripartite synapse, a kind of three-way handshake involving the two connected neurons and the astrocyte.

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"Astrocytes don't transmit electrical impulses like neurons do. Instead, they communicate via calcium signaling, sending waves of charged calcium particles within and between cells. Studies have shown that astrocytes respond to synaptic activity by altering their internal calcium levels. These changes can then trigger the release of chemical messengers from the astrocyte into the synapse.

"'These processes act as tiny calcium computers, sensing when information is sent through the synapse, passing that information to other processes, and then receiving feedback in return," Kozachkov said. Ultimately, this chain email gets back to the neurons, which adjust their activity in turn. However, researchers don't yet fully understand the precise computational functions astrocytes perform with the information they receive from neurons."

Comment: our consciousness must require this degree of complexity. I would say it is quite a design.